Why your child could be unsafe in school

By JECKONIA OTIENO

Kenya: Yvonne Narocho, a Form Three student, died in a swimming pool accident at St George’s Girls Secondary School in Nairobi.

She was among 20 students who had reportedly sneaked into the swimming pool.

It is still unclear how the girl died last month. Narocho’s parents, David Etyang and Hilda Ebere say events leading to the death are shrouded in mystery.

“The school nurse informed me that she died at the poolside and there was a life guard on duty, then how did my daughter drown?” posed Ms Ebere.

Our calls to the school to ascertain the chain of events were not answered. Guards at the institution also turned away The Standard on Saturday crew.

Barely a week after a student’s body was discovered at the University of Nairobi’s swimming pool, Dennis Maina, a fourth year student of economics at the institution was also found dead. He was fully dressed when his body was discovered in the pool.

These are just but a few cases, some unreported, that bedevil learners in institutions ranging from accidents to deaths caused by rogue teachers through corporal punishment. Other causes of death include motor vehicle accidents, disease outbreaks, fatal falls and fights.

A 2011 report by Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK), a professional organisation of educational researchers, showed that only four out of ten public primary schools had safety manuals.

The safety manual was prepared in 2008 by the Ministry of Education for schools across the country.

The research also found that only two out of five schools had school safety committees. Nairobi had the highest number of school safety committees at 78 per cent while Nyanza had the least number of safety manuals with only three out of ten schools having the document. While the manual recommends that every school should have a safety committee, only 36 per cent of institutions have functional teams.

The manual states that creating school safe zones does not only mean ensuring an accident free school environment, rather, it is the responsibility taken by learners, staff, parents and stakeholders to foster all-round safe living.

Uwezo East Africa regional manager Sara Ruto, says Kenya is yet to pay adequate attention to the safety of learners in institutions.

“Apart from physical safety, there are other aspects that are yet to be fully considered like psychological and sexual safety which are as important as physical safety,” says Dr Ruto adding that despite the ban on corporal punishment, children still die in the hands of teachers like the recent case in Nyeri.

Compromise

The tragedy of it all, she says, is that no leader is talking about safety in learning institutions.

Says Ruto: “Overwhelming evidence shows that schools are not as safe as we might want to think and the fact that leaders are not talking about it makes the matter worse since it cannot be mainstreamed into national debate.”

The report stated in part: The continued reports of child sexual abuse, verbal abuse, school fires amongst others, affirm poor safety for school children.

She cites toilets, spiritual attacks and animals such as snakes as threats that compromise safety of learners.

However, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang says accidents in schools have reduced and incidents of arson attack have been contained.

The WERK study found that natural calamities were a threat to safety in learning institutions at 21 per cent followed by intruders at 18 per cent. Also likely to cause harm to students are dangerous structures and incidents of sexual abuse.

The Kenya National Association of Parents Secretary General Musau Ndunda says that there are no clear guidelines on enforcement of safety of learners.

He says a good number of schools in the country have not appointed people to look into safety measures.

 “The way forward, is to come up with regulations and legislations that will guide safety in our learning institutions because I believe this will solve the problem. For many years we did have any regulations to guide safety measures in institutions but now we have a committee that will conclusively look into this matter,” says Ndunda.

Ruto concurs with Ndunda that teachers who attend safety training have safer schools compared to those who have not.

Some schools lack even basic facilities like fire extinguishers and first aid kits.

“You can have first aid kits but they would not make any difference if they are not stocked or if there is no knowledge on how to use them,” she says.

What remains to be seen is how these safety regulations will be implemented in private and non-formal schools, if the same is still a major challenge in public schools. Non-formal schools in Kenya dot slums of Nairobi and major towns, majority of them devoid of space and facilities.

There have been cases of learners being run over by vehicles, dying in swimming pools or getting injured during games or even in laboratory accidents which puts teachers on the spot.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general, Wilson Sossion says it is not the work of teachers to ensure safety of learners as they are employed to teach.

“Acute shortage of teachers has not made matters any easier and the government cannot keep on passing the buck on matters security because it is a national issue. What is wrong with engaging the services of professional security firms to man schools?” poses Sossion.

Sossion suggests that CCTV cameras would be a cheap and easy way to ensure security of learners and institutions. He says the security equipment can help tame cases of arson attacks.

He says, “Nobody has really explained causes of school fires which we believe these security cameras can help demystify.”

On the safety manual, Sossion questions how a manual that is difficult to enforce is expected to keep students safe.

Non-formal schools in Kenya’s slums are more than public schools. For instance, Kibera in Nairobi County has over 228 non-formal primary schools with over 26,400 learners.

This cannot be compared to the three public primary schools in the area which cater for only 5,200 learners. Thus more learners are left without adequate safety as the structures and conditions of schools are wanting.

A report by Daraja Civic Initiative Forum shows that non-formal schools are ill-equipped to meet stringent requirements for registration as private schools.